When the pandemic hit and the Big Ten and NCAA last spring began canceling sports events — many of them planned for Indianapolis — the Indiana Sports Corp. didn't go into hibernation. Instead, it went to work, trying to figure out how to be a player in whatever the sports world would become. The result is an idea that appears to have captured the fancy of a number of colleges and athletic conferences — although it's too soon to know whether any of them will take Indy up on the idea. The Indiana ...
Sep 28, 2020•35 min•Ep. 121
Since the pandemic began, Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn has been talking on the IBJ Podcast and writing in the pages of IBJ about the need to get your discretionary spending under control to deal with the current economic downturn. But now, Pete has a new message to those who are stable: Spend some money at your favorite restaurant. We all know that restaurants have been devastated by the pandemic. Some have closed, and Pete predicts more are about to shutter. So he suggests determining how much...
Sep 21, 2020•33 min•Ep. 120
When Katara McCarty sees a need, she tries to find a solution. That's what led McCarty and her husband to start a church, a center for kids and a school in Africa. Now, McCarty has a new project—a smart phone app called Exhale that is meant to help women of color cope with the stress, mind their mental health and develop confidence to achieve their goals. McCarty talks with IBJ reporter Anthony Schoettle about why she thinks the app is needed, what it took to launch it and how she hopes to expan...
Sep 14, 2020•35 min•Ep. 119
IBJ health reporter John Russell has been covering Indiana University Health's plans to expand the Methodist Hospital campus by eight blocks, or 44 acres, anchored by a new $1.6 billion hospital. The campus also will consolidate the operations of University Hospital, the Simon Cancer Center and much of the IU School of Medicine, all of which will move from the IUPUI campus. Russell joins podcast host Mason King to talk about what IU Health has revealed about the campus—and what key questions rem...
Sep 08, 2020•28 min•Ep. 118
The pandemic has been a boon for the home design and renovation industry, as many people scramble to create office space, improve their yards and make other changes to make life in quarantine more acceptable. So podcast host Mason King talks to three industry experts about what clients now want, how the pandemic has affected their companies and how they work safely in clients’ homes. They are: interior designer Heidi Woodman, owner of Haus Love Interiors; Matt Troyer, owner of Emergent Construct...
Aug 31, 2020•26 min•Ep. 117
Six months into the pandemic, parents are still struggling with what COVID-19 means for the kids. Should they be in school? Can they go on play dates? Can they hug grandma? Of course, in many cases, there are no black and white answers to those questions. But host Mason King gets some educated opinions from Dr. James Wood, a pediatrician at Riley Children's Health and an expert in pediatric infectious diseases. Plus, Wood explains multi system inflammatory syndrome (which he describes as "extrem...
Aug 24, 2020•33 min•Ep. 116
As the pandemic has stretched into months and the days seem to melt into each other, a vast majority of remote workers are burning out, according to a recent survey from Monster.com. At the very least, many are mired in remote working ruts. And the volume of boring and unnecessary video meetings just makes it worse. As some workforces face at least several more months of working from home, burnout threatens to become a dire business problem. But is this as good as it’s going to get? And what can...
Aug 17, 2020•40 min•Ep. 115
The pandemic has raised all kinds of new questions about college and student loans—and the value of an online education versus attending in person. Plus, what do you do if you graduated in May and still don't have a job? Host Mason King explores those issues and more with IBJ columnist Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn. Also, read Dunn's latest column here . The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault ....
Aug 10, 2020•25 min•Ep. 114
Windsor Jewelry, located just south of the Circle on Meridian Street, was one of the businesses hardest hit by the riots that followed Black Lives Matter protests at the end of May. The vandalism and looting came just days after Windsor Jewelry reopened following the pandemic shutdown. The store is open again now, and the owner, Greg Bires, talked with podcast host Mason King about the one-two punch of the pandemic and violence and what it will take for Windsor and for downtown to recover. Plus,...
Aug 03, 2020•30 min•Ep. 113
Diana Brugh is a microbiologist with experience working with bacteria- and virus-killing ultraviolet lights. Her husband, Jason Brugh, is one of the state’s foremost robotics experts. And together, they've created a coronavirus-killing robot that they've just moved into the market. UVNinja Lux is the first product from the couple's newest company, AutoBio Reduction. It moves around a workplace (after mapping the space) and uses ultraviolet let to kill bacteria and viruses. Diana and Jason talks ...
Jul 27, 2020•29 min•Ep. 112
Dr. Virginia Caine has been in charge of the Marion County Public Health Department since 1994. Over her tenure she has fought waves of public health crises including HIV and AIDS, the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 and the ongoing scourge of black infant mortality. But never has she taken such a visible and constant public role of authority as she has over the last five months of the coronavirus crisis. For Indianapolis, she is as one of the key interpreters of data, prime shapers of policy and chief ev...
Jul 20, 2020•34 min•Ep. 111
Before the pandemic hit Indianapolis in March, some 155,000 people were working regularly downtown. In the weeks after Gov. Eric Holcomb ordered all non-essential workers to go home, just 5% or so of those workers remained. Essentially, the Mile Square became a ghost town. Today, some of those workers are returning. Many restaurants are open again. And a few offices are open. But IBJ reporters Samm Quinn and Anthony Schoettle spent a week talking with the leaders of downtown companies and learne...
Jul 13, 2020•30 min•Ep. 110
It's been nearly four months since host Mason King sat down with Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn to talk about personal finance. In fact, their last get together took place in person—and it was March 12, what some are now calling Black Thursday 2020, the day Wall Street suffered its largest single-day percentage drop since 1987. Pete talks about what he got right and wrong about the economy, jobs and the stock market the last time he and King talked. And Pete explains what is scaring him the most ...
Jul 06, 2020•33 min•Ep. 109
Angela Freeman is an attorney at Barnes & Thornburg, formerly a molecular biologist at Eli Lilly and Co., and is finishing up a six-year stint on the board of the not-for-profit Women & Hi Tech, the last year as president. And in those roles, she's served on a number of search and hiring committees, which have often been charged with hiring diverse candidates. Freeman talks with podcast host Mason King about the biases that exist in hiring and promoting and explains some of the mistakes ...
Jun 29, 2020•38 min•Ep. 108
The city of Indianapolis and Indy Chamber are close partners. Not only does Indy Chamber's Develop Indy division have a $1 million contract to handle the city's economic development efforts, the city has also given it millions of dollars for grants and loans to help companies deal with the pandemic. The Indy Black Chamber of Commerce, which launched in 2015, wants a piece of that action. Host Mason King with the Black Chamber's Larry Williams about why he thinks the city should be working more w...
Jun 22, 2020•35 min•Ep. 107
Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials are putting all their energy into running the Indy 500 with fans in August, despite continuing concerns about big crowds and the coronavirus. In fact, just weeks after IMS announced that NASCAR's Brickyard 400 would run in front of empty stands, the track's new owner—Roger Penske—said the Indy 500 would not run if fans couldn't be there. So we talked with IBJ reporter Anthony Schoettle about the Indy 500 and his conversation with IMS President Doug Boles abo...
Jun 15, 2020•22 min•Ep. 106
Protests focused on racial inequality and police treatment of African Americans boiled over on May 29-30 into violence and vandalism that left businesses across downtown damaged and looted. Eric Wells, president of the Stadium Village Business Association, says the city failed to adequately protect businesses and has not communicated a plan or a vision for bringing the city's core back after the one-two punch of coronavirus and the riots. She talks with podcast host Mason King about ways the cit...
Jun 08, 2020•43 min•Ep. 105
Those familiar with Indianapolis-based Energy Systems Network say it’s one of the most innovative organizations in energy and transportation—not only in the state, but in the nation. But it’s not particularly well-known. Its officials prefer to work in the background while pushing forward initiatives like IndyGo’s bus rapid transit program, the Blue Indy electric car-sharing program, and an early initiative that helps some of the state’s biggest manufacturers make big moves in heavy-duty hybrid ...
Jun 01, 2020•38 min•Ep. 104
Conversations around the family dinner table during the coronavirus crisis have taken on incredibly high stakes. Deciding whether or not the kids can see Grandma and Grandpa over the weekend now requires research into the latest physical distancing guidelines and any chronic conditions they might have. Deciding whether or not to play baseball, basketball or soccer in youth summer leagues requires a serious calculation of the risks and rewards, as well as a working knowledge of all of the precaut...
May 26, 2020•34 min•Ep. 103
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb has put himself in the public spotlight—or, if you will, the crosshairs of public opinion—nearly every weekday for the last two months, hosting press conferences about the state’s response to the coronavirus crisis. It is not an easy job, as the governor and his staff must address new fatalities, respond to questions that have no easy answer, and ask residents to make difficult sacrifices to beat an enemy we don’t totally understand. This also happens to be an election ...
May 18, 2020•24 min•Ep. 102
Hundreds of thousands of couple who for months have been picking preachers, flowers, venues, bridesmaid dresses, reception menus and deejay playlists now find themselves making a no-win decision: Do we keep the dates for our spring 2020 wedding and scale it way down, or do we reschedule the whole shebang and hope we’re not in the middle of another wave of infections? The coronavirus crisis and its social-distancing protocols have wreaked havoc on the multibillion-dollar wedding industry—not to m...
May 11, 2020•35 min•Ep. 101
As the economy swan-dives into a deep recession due to the coronavirus crisis, many of the people who live in apartments or rented homes find themselves in a frightening bind. Unemployment has surged in the working-class sectors, making it difficult for tens of thousands of tenants in Indiana to make their monthly rent payments. According to industry estimates, about 8% to 10% of renters were delinquent on their April rents, both in Indiana and nationwide. Tenants in Indiana have been shielded f...
May 04, 2020•33 min•Ep. 100
Last week, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb told businesses they needed to start planning to reopen, although he didn’t set a particular date—or, what’s probably more likely, a schedule of how restrictions gradually would loosen. That process could start as soon as early May. So, what do companies and restaurant think reopening will look like in a world still very wary of the coronavirus pandemic? How do they envision minimizing the risks for their employees and customers? Should restaurants still allo...
Apr 27, 2020•35 min•Ep. 99
Home sales in central Indiana have tumbled since the coronavirus crisis told hold in March. Home showings have cratered. The number of owners deciding to list their homes for sale has slumped well below average. That said, people are still buying and selling homes in central Indiana, even as public officials ask us to severely limit personal contact and any non-essential travel outside the home. How are homes still moving? Good real estate agents are nothing if not entrepreneurial, and they’ve c...
Apr 20, 2020•33 min•Ep. 98
Mason King, the host of The IBJ Podcast, focuses this week on the pressures and challenges of trying to fulfill your obligations as an employee, spouse and parent during the "new normal" of sequestration, in an environment where those responsibilities easily collide. These dramas are playing out in a thousand different ways, so King invited local families to pose questions for his podcast interview with human resources expert Liz Malatestinic. One of the most common: “Is it reasonable for employ...
Apr 13, 2020•33 min•Ep. 97
Just a few weeks ago, Indiana's new jobless claims numbered just a few thousand a week. Then the coronavirus shuttered the economy and Gov. Eric Holcomb ordered non-essential businesses to close. The result: The last week in March saw 146,243 new unemployment claims. The surge has flooded the state's computer system and its call center, and the Department of Workforce Department is quickly hiring and training new staff to handle the workload and get unemployed Hoosiers answers and benefits as qu...
Apr 06, 2020•46 min•Ep. 96
Ed Sahm and his son, Eddie Sahm, started planning for the shutdown of the restaurant industry weeks before the coronavirus outbreak led city and state officials to order the closures. And so they were a little more ready than most owners to refocus Sahm's 16 restaurants. The result is an operation to benefit the not-for-profit Second Helpings, offer takeout at some locations, and open a series of marketplaces, where customers can get grocery items, including produce, cleaning products and, yes, ...
Mar 30, 2020•33 min•Ep. 95
The economy is at a standstill thanks to closures caused by fear about the spread of COVID-19. But it will likely come roaring back once the nation gets the coronavirus outbreak under control, says Phil Powell, the associate dean of academics programs at the IU Kelley School of Business in Indianapolis. Powell talks to podcast host Mason King about how companies should approach what he believes will be a deep but short recession and steps they should take now to shore up their financial situatio...
Mar 23, 2020•26 min•Ep. 94
IBJ's personal finance columnist Peter Dunn is more worried about what the global pandemic will do to the economy than he is about what it will do (or has done) to the stock market. And he's most concerned about that economic impact on individuals and families—especially those who are vulnerable to layoffs. And so he talks with podcast host Mason King about what people can do to prepare for what he believes will soon be a recession. The goal, he said, is to "get lean." He also talks about the po...
Mar 16, 2020•30 min•Ep. 93
Nineteen hotel projects have been announced for downtown. If every one of them opens, they would add 4,203 more rooms to the central district of Indianapolis—an increase of more than 50%. But experts say it's unlikely all of those hotels will be built and opened. And in fact, three appear at least temporarily stalled. Host Mason King talks with IBJ real estate reporter Mickey Shuey about which projects may be on the ropes and which ones appear most likely to make it. And King interviews Drew Dim...
Mar 09, 2020•29 min•Ep. 92
